Katy Perry might not have the magisterial moves of Beyonce, but she has a
cheery warmth that connects with an audience, says Bernadette McNulty.

“This is going to be fun!” squealed a girl on the way into the final night of theiTunes festival. Despite a heavy weight line-up that catered to every taste – starting with Lady Gaga and including Elton John, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon and Justin Timberlake – fun is not something this month long jamboree always excels in, drawing in a random crowd of ballot winners rather than dedicated fans. But Katy Perry, the queen of modern fun pop, was as likely a contender as any to bring out a unified, pan-ages feeling of excitement in the audience as any of her predecessors.

Her case has been strengthened by yet another hit single in her arsenal, the imperious Roar that saw off Lady Gaga earlier this month to score the 28-year-old Californian her fourth UK number one, written along with her regular Swedish hit writers Max Martin and Dr Luke. Arguably these two backroom guys have had more influence on American pop music over the last 15 years than anything Simon Cowell could dream of, penning hits for Britney Spears, Pink and of late Taylor Swift. But it is the studio chemistry that they have conjured up with Perry that has been the most intoxicating, producing five American number ones off her last album, Teenage Dreams – the first female artist ever to do so.

Perry’s slapstick, hyper-coloured image has often clouded the serious ambition underneath and this show was, by her standards, a relatively simple, back-to-basics affair. Dressed as if fresh from Camden market in Doctor Martins, over-the-knee stockings and tartan micro-mini kilt, she made do with a crack squad of backing dancers, a sheet, a wind machine, some sparkly cubes and a handful of magicians glitter.

Which was for the best. Perry does not have the magisterial moves of Beyoncé, the dramatic brilliance of Gaga, the glittering Grammy perfection of Taylor Swift, but she does have cheery warmth and ease on stage that connects with an audience quite powerfully. She flitted from EDM gym workouts to a brilliantly squally glam metal take on I Kissed a Girl.

Perry has never been the most sophisticated lyricist but if the material from upcoming album Prism was distinct it was in the repeated narratives of picking yourself and dusting yourself down, clearly inspired by the breakdown of her marriage to comedian Russell Brand. Joined by songwriter Greg Wells on stage she carried off a big power-ballad moment, letting her rock-chick voice surge unadorned.

With the crowd in the palm of her hand she let rip with a double-pronged assault of Firework followed by a resounding Roar and then she was gone. At just under 45 minutes you might have felt short-changed if you’d paid for a ticket but Perry brought that elusive sense of fun to the festival and did more than enough to prove that less is often more.